The End

This completes Summit County Adventures and the great time that I had living in Colorado during the Winter and Spring of 2005.

On the way back to Oakland I drove over Tioga pass through Yosemite. After seeing Zion NP two days ago, Yosemite seemed less impressive. I didn't even stop as I was eager to get home and take a shower. The Central Valley without A/C was pretty brutal as well.

As I was eyeing my final run down Climax, I was joined by Glen Plake who had dressed for the occasion with red white and blue clothes, red white and blue skis and a red white and blue mohawk.

There was still plenty of snow left on the ground. This is at the top of Climax which was a lot of fun today.

For those of you who have skied at Mammoth before, I bet you didn't know this sign was so tall. I have a picture from a few years ago taken in February with my arm resting on top of the post. My guess is that this winter they had to dig it out to keep it from getting buried. Mammoth got a total of 607 inches (50ft) of snow this year! Incredible.

I camped just outside of Mammoth Lakes. This was my view in the morning when I woke up.

Death Valley was the next stop on my trip. I drove through right around dusk and was treated to a nice colorful sunset. As you would expect it was hot. A thermometer I saw at about 9pm when it was already dark read 118�F. To make things worse, the air conditioner in my car ceased to function after I had been in the valley for about 10 minutes. Not a good thing. The drive through the valley was rough. For about two hours I was sitting there sweating my ass off praying that the rest of my car wouldn't decide to follow the same path as my A/C. Even in the Owens Valley it was hot. It wasn't until I I gained some elevation on 395 that it cooled off. You never realize how vital A/C is in a car until you don't have it.

Vegas Baby, Vegas!

I drove through Vegas after the Grand Canyon. Just to the East of Vegas (maybe 30 minutes on I-15) there is an Indian reservation where they sell fireworks. In California, you can generally do things on Indian reservations that are not legal in the rest of the state, like gamble. In Nevada you can gamble anywhere and buy safe and sane fireworks anywhere, so what do the Indian tribes do to offer a unique product? They sell really high powered fireworks. You can buy stuff like bottle rocks, black cats, M-80s, and the fireworks that shoot several hundred feet into the air and explode like professional fireworks. Being that it was the afternoon of July 3rd, the place was packed. Selection was pretty limited too, but the next time I make a road trip to Vegas, I will definitely make a detour to stock up.
In Vegas I stopped at the brand new Wynn casino. That is a pretty swanky place. I would say it rivals or betters the Bellagio. Not surprisingly I couldn't find any $5 blackjack tables on a Saturday afternoon.

I ate breakfest at the North Rim lodge. Talk about a restaurant with a view!

My car collected a bird while driving through the park. So sad :-(

Seeing the Grand Canyon after seeing Zion and Bryce canyons was a little underwhelming. It is so enormously huge that you really can't comprehend how big it is. There are no references for scale. In Zion you can walk right up next to the walls and understand how big it is. The Grand Canyon seems less intimate.

After Zion I headed into Arizona to see the Grand Canyon. I camped near the North Rim entrance to the park. I headed to the viewpoints first thing in the morning. The North Rim of the Grand Canyon is very heavily forrested. You don't get out of the forest until you get right to the rim of the canyon. Once you get there it is quite a difference.